Friday, July 10, 2009

Morning everyone. A couple of things have been happening in the world of Arsenal in the past few days so I figured I'd keep everyone up to date.

First of all, it's only 8 days until the first preseason match! We'll get to see that annual match vs Barnet, which while not an overly competitive match usually, it is the return of football each year and that is something to be celebrated. I'll get more into a preview for that match in a couple of days.

The big news I guess this morning revolves once again around one Alisher "The fat Uzbeki money grubbing cunt" Usamanov and one Stanley Kroenke. A few days ago, Usmanov offered to inject 60 million pounds into Arsenal's coffers for transfer activity. Mind you, all this money is questionable and sketchy at best. Needless to say, Arsenal rejected the offer. Ivan Gazidis had this to say:

With regard to players, the Board decided not to issue permanent capital in the hopes of signing one or two players in an inflated transfer market. Instead, the focus continues to be on securing the services of talented young players we have on long-term contracts and making very selective acquisitions, only where a new signing will add real value to our already strong squad.

Some of you will say, "Shite, why would you turn down 60 million quid to spend on the team?" Well because it's not how Arsenal does business. It never has been that way, and I hope it never will be that way. The club is built on a sound business model that, while sometimes is frustrating, is crucial to the club's long term success.

Along these same lines, Stan Kroenke has today increased his shares by 1,600 shares to now own 28.5% of the club, making him the club's largest shareholder, passing Usmanov. Some people are still skeptical of Kroenke, but I personally place my faith in the Arsenal board, who have been around Arsenal for decades. There's a reason they invited Kroenke to join the board and continue to reject Usmanov. Kroenke, they feel, is someone who has the club's interest at heart, while Usmanov is a horrible person who eats kittens for lunch and baby seals for dinner.

This increase does put Kroenke awfully close to the limit of 30% before you are obligated to make a full takeover bid. It seems almost inevitable that there will be an eventual bidding war between Kroenke and Usmanov, and I'm fairly sure the board is doing their damndest to make sure Kroenke wins that war. And I'm backing him too. While I'd rather have the ownership split up like it is right now, if it's going to be one of these two it's not even a question.

In other news, Arsenal target Felipe Melo has signed for Juventus, effectively ending that transfer saga. I did think he would be a perfect fit for us, but I guess we didn't want to spend as much as Juve did. The question is who do we look at for that holding role now? There's Inler of course, and Veloso, but my guess is that Arsene will go for someone totally off the wall that we've never heard of. Your thoughts?

That's about all I've got today. Thoughts on Kroenke, Usmanov, Melo, and Barnet are all acceptable, as well as anything else you want to say. Have at it. Cheers.

what exactly is it about Usmanov that you dislike? Could it possibly be that he comes from a country that we really don't know a lot about, therefore obviously making him dodgy, whilst the other one comes from a country that likes to throw it's weight about, "securing peace and stability in Afghanistan and Iraq" whilst benefitting from all that oil by product! Which obviously makes him so trustworthy! Listen, the board were aghast when Dein Introduced Kronke yet now he's on the board and Dein has been fucked off right out of it (and I don't care what anyone says Arsenal as a club has ceased to function properly since Deins departure)The rest of the board are taking the piss out of us supporters, their share values have risen ten fold since Wengers arrival and whilst they are coining in the rewards we are drop fed bullshit, so Fisman, Hill-wood et al you can all take a walk up the Seven Sisters, me I'd rather the Uzbeki.

Stan Kroenke owns 3 sports franchisees in the USA which means he knows how the sports business works.The USA forces a salary cap on teams which is similar to the self-imposed salary cap that arsenal have on their teams. Usmanov is a rich guy who wants to follow other rich guys in spending all the money we have or he can spendthats the difference and that is why we want Kroenke and not Usmanov

I wanted to post a comment on transfers - or lack there of! Wenger NEEDS to sign a defensive midfield player. Although i dont know much about our new signing im confident he will do the business in defence as his previous club was ajax. Hopefully the board can sort out the situation with financing a deal for an EXPERIENCED player asap as im getting antsy with pre-season coming up. We need silverware next season its been too long. I'll obviously be happy with the treble but for aresnal a minimum should be - FA Cup Winners, 2nd in the Premier League, Runner up of Champions League. But we need a decent midfield player for it to happen! What do ya think of my predictions? Peace out and in arsene we trust.......ps arshavin is no doubt going to be player of the year - the guys a legend and fingers crossed no frickin injuries to anyone!!!

Personally, I'm sick with the lot of them. A rights issue isn't going to put financial pressure on the club. It raises money by getting existing shareholders to chip in. Despite what the board says, we need that money for transfer and wages, if nothing else. We just lost Melo because we can't afford him.

The only problem with the rights issue was whether board members were willing to either put money into the club or watch their shares diluted. And by choosing to reject the rights issue out of hand, they've shown that they're not interested.

Now Usmanov knew that there wasn't a chance in hell that it'll be approved, but it's shown the board for what they are - cheapskates.